LAS VEGAS, NV - JUNE 08: Police and fire vehicles line the street outside a Wal-Mart on June 8, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Two officers were reported shot and killed by two assailants at a pizza restaurant near the Wal-mart. The two suspects then reportedly went into the Wal-Mart where they killed a third person before killing themselves. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Photo: Ethan Miller, Getty Images

LAS VEGAS, NV - JUNE 08: Police and fire vehicles line the street...

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LAS VEGAS, NV - JUNE 08: A Las Vegas Metropolitan police officer stands outside Cici's Pizza where two officers were killed on June 8, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Two officers were reported shot and killed by two assailants at a pizza restaurant near the Wal-mart. The two suspects then reportedly went into the Wal-Mart where they killed a third person before killing themselves. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Photo: Ethan Miller, Getty Images

LAS VEGAS, NV - JUNE 08: A Las Vegas Metropolitan police officer...

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LAS VEGAS, NV - JUNE 08: Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers hug near a Wal-Mart on June 8, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Two officers were reported shot and killed by two assailants at a pizza restaurant near the Wal-mart. The two suspects then reportedly went into the Wal-Mart where they killed a third person before killing themselves. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Photo: Ethan Miller, Getty Images

LAS VEGAS, NV - JUNE 08: Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department...

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Cheri Rasmussen, left, prays with Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Lt. Roxanne McDaris after a vigil near CiCi's Pizza Monday, June 9, 2014 in Las Vegas. The vigil was held to honor two Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officers and a bystander who were killed on Sunday. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officer walks near the scene of a shooting, Sunday, June 8, 2014 in Las Vegas. Police say two suspects shot two officers at a Las Vegas pizza parlor before fatally shooting a person and turning the guns on themselves at a nearby Walmart. (AP Photo/John Locher)

WASHINGTON — Joseph Wilcox, a Nevada concealed-carry permit holder, had taken his gun on a shopping trip to return a modem to a Las Vegas Wal-Mart on Sunday.

Once there, he drew his weapon to confront what he thought was a lone shooter, anti-government fanatic Jerad Miller, only to be shot and killed himself by Miller’s wife and accomplice, Amanda Miller.

Hero or victim? Or perhaps both?

The local sheriff and his chief deputy described him as a hero, a view echoed by concealed-carry advocates who say that although Wilcox died tragically, his actions delayed the deadly rampage of the Millers.

But others in law enforcement and gun-control advocacy say the deadly confrontation illustrates the ultimate fallacy of the concealed-carry mantra that "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," as National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre put it a week after the mass-shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

The couple had already shot and killed two police officers eating lunch inside a Cici’s pizza restaurant before going to the Wal-Mart.

Police were arriving at the scene at the time of Jerad Miller’s coming face to face with Wilcox. It is uncertain how long Wilcox delayed the two or whether it had any bearing on the ultimate outcome.

"Joseph died attempting to protect others," said Sheriff Douglas Gillespie. "His death is completely senseless."

Las Vegas law enforcement officials initially said the two died in a suicide pact shortly after Amanda Miller shot Wilcox. But on Wednesday, they said police bullets had killed Jerad Miller and Amanda Miller shot and killed herself.

But whatever the timing, the death of Wilcox already has become the latest installment in an on-going debate over the wisdom of concealed carry.

"It is tragic that Wilcox had to give his life to stop these two murderers, but there’s no doubt that his actions saved countless lives," wrote Nick Leghorn, a self-described San Antonio "gun nerd" who writes for the pro-gun blog thetruthaboutguns.com.

But many in law enforcement have misgivings over concealed carry, worrying that would-be heroes may do more harm than good in tense situations where split-second judgments are a necessity.

"It’s very hard to speak ill of someone who died doing what he thought was right," said Kevin Quinn, a police officer in Chandler, Ariz., and president of the National Association of School Resource Officers, which represents police assigned to schools. "But was (drawing a gun at Miller) the best option? In hindsight, obviously it was not."

Police officers are trained to have total awareness of their surroundings in such situations and not just focus on the active shooter, Quinn said.

"How a police officer responds is much different than a civilian with a gun," Quinn said, noting that NASRO opposed the NRA’s post-Newtown plan to train armed civilians for school-protection duty.

Gun control advocates said the death of Wilcox was a black eye for the NRA and its promotion of gun ownership and carrying as a solution to a rising tide of mass shootings.

"From its magazines to Wayne LaPierre’s statements after Newtown, the NRA routinely argues that concealed carry is a simple solution to complex situations including mass shootings," said Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Violence Policy Center. "In his own way, Joseph Wilcox was as much a victim of the NRA’s language and marketing as the two law enforcement officers who were killed."

The chief theoretician of concealed carry, John Lott, said in an interview that conscientious gun owners can make a difference in mass-shooter situations.

"In that situation, 20 or 30 seconds can be a long time in terms of helping someone get away from the scene," Lott said. "Obviously it was a tragedy that his life was lost, but it seems like he helped to some extent.’’

Lott’s 1998 book, "More Guns, Less Crime," served as the underpinning for expansion of concealed-carry laws in many states.

"It does make me wonder, with all those people in the theater, was there nobody that was carrying a gun that could have stopped this guy more quickly?" said Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, in 2012 after the movie theater mass-shooting in Aurora, Colo., which left 12 dead.

All 50 states allow concealed carry in some form. Four states do not require any permit for concealed carry.

Eleven states — including California, Connecticut and New York — give broad powers to local law enforcement officials to limit concealed-carry permit issuance, typically to those who can demonstrate an immediate need to carry a gun.

Forty-six state, including Texas, require authorities to issue such permits if applicants pass a handgun proficiency training course and meet minimum criteria, such as being 21, not a convicted felon and not being "chemically dependent."

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(Dan Freedman can be reached at 202-263-6400 or at the e-mail address dan@hearstdc.com)